Venetian nationalism, also Venetism or Venetianism, from the Venetian/Italian name, venetismo, is a nationalist, but primarily regionalist, political movement active mostly in Veneto, Italy, as well as in other parts of the former Republic of Venice. The term Venetismo was likely coined by Guido Piovene, who wrote that it was "a powerful reality of the imagination" for Venetians, who hold "a fantastic conviction that their land is a world".Full quote: "I wonder what Veneto is for the Venetians. I reply that for the Venetians their land is a truth. It has nothing to do with national sentiment, neither by association nor by contrast. It is an additional truth, of a different nature. There exists in the hearts of Venetians a fantastic conviction that their land is a world, an admiring feeling and almost a dream of themselves that has no equal in other regions of Italy. Venetism is a powerful reality of the imagination. It can also be felt from the landscape, present everywhere in Veneto like a living person. The feeling of having entered my land, coming from Lombardy, just past Lake Garda, repeats itself in me every time and never fades. I then always realize that I am there, with the slightly exotic veil, with the semi-oriental light, which extends everywhere: on the hills that precede the Alps, or rise from the plain; on the Piazza delle Erbe, where the golden, greenish, reddish game mixes its colors with fruit and vegetables; on the puffy clouds, which spell thunderstorms, equal to the lords in the palaces; on the baroque moons that sink into the marshy valleys of the coast. It is a fantasy of the East, with a delicacy that the true East does not have. In Veneto the landscape is also half nature and half painting, it lives and watches itself live, and is pleased with itself." See https://www.menaboonline.it/il-veneto-di-piovene
Generally speaking, Venetists promote the distinct Venetian identity and the rediscovery of the Republic of Venice's heritage, traditions, culture, and language, and/or demand more autonomy or even independence for Veneto from Italy. According to journalist Paolo Possamai, Venetism is "the strain of Veneto and Venetians toward the recognition of their identity and autonomy".Francesco Jori, Dalla Łiga alla Lega. Storia, movimenti, protagonisti, Marsilio, Venice 2009, p. 98 Venetism is a broad movement, which includes Venetist parties, notably Liga Veneta, but also encompasses people from other political parties. In 1982 Goffredo Parise, a writer and journalist, wrote: "Veneto is my fatherland. [...] Even if a Republic of Italy exists, this abstract idea is not my Fatherland [...]. We Venetians have travelled throughout the world, but our Fatherland, that for which we would fight if it were necessary to fight, is Veneto. [...] When I see "River sacred to the Fatherland" written on the bridges spanning the Piave, I am moved, not because I think of Italy, but rather because I think of Veneto."Goffredo Parise, Corriere della Sera, 7 February 1982
Most Venetists consider Veneto a nation distinct from Italy and some refuse the validity of the result of the referendum through which Veneto (or, better, Venetia) was united with Italy in 1866. Some of them have long proposed a re-edition of that referendum and campaign for the independence of Venetia, a country that would be composed of the territories of the historical Venetian Republic, covering Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, and large chunks of Lombardy (the province of Brescia, the province of Bergamo, the area around Crema, and part of the province of Mantua). The proposal, regarding to Veneto alone, has more recently gained the support of Liga Veneta, the Government of Veneto, and the majority of the Regional Council of Veneto, which endorsed a bill aimed at organising the referendum in 2014. The Constitutional Court ruled that referendum out as contrary to the Constitution, but authorised an autonomy referendum, which took place on 22 October 2017: 57.2% of Venetians participated in the referendum and 98.1% voted "yes". Consequently, President of Veneto Luca Zaia started a negotiation with the Italian government.
Although it usually refers to the whole Venetian autonomist movement, the term "Venetism" is sometimes used to identify specifically culture-oriented Venetists, hardline Venetists or those Venetists who refuse the concept of Padania, a proposed country by Lega Nord / Lega, of which Liga Veneta (the most successful Venetist party so far) has been the "national/regional" section in Veneto. Alberto Gardin, a pro-independence publisher and later self proclaimed 121st Doge who supports the boycott of Italian elections, offers another interpretation by considering "Venetism" a "partisan concept, that is part of the Italian political system (Venetists, as Socialists, Communists, PD, PdL, etc.)".
Background and history
Annexation of Veneto by Italy The Venetian Republic existed for 1100 years, from 697 to 1797 (submitted to Byzantium until the 9th century), and was one of the world's first modern republics. After defeating the Republic of Genoa in a series of wars, it became the most powerful Mediterranean maritime power, and at its height extended its rule from large parts of the Po Valley to the coastal regions and islands of present-day Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, and Greece. Venice was a leading power of the Western world in the 15th and 16th centuries. In 1797, after a long decline, through the Treaty of Campo Formio, Napoleon traded what remained of the Republic with Austria in exchange for other territories. In 1848, Venetians, led by Daniele Manin, rebelled against Austrian rule and established the Republic of San Marco. Manin, who opposed the proposed unification by some Venetians with the Kingdom of Sardinia, resigned, but returned to lead the opposition against Vienna in 1849.
Venetian territories with the former Duchy of Mantua and Friuli were annexed to Italy in 1866, five years after Italian unification and the creation of the Kingdom of Italy under the House of Savoy in 1861. Veneto's unification with Italy resulted from the Austro-Prussian War, won by the Prussians, Italy's allies. In the Italian unification process, the conflict is known as Third War of Independence. Austria lost Venetia, ceded to Napoleon III of France, who in turn ceded it to Italy. Austria refused to give Venetian territories directly to Italy because the Austrians had crushed the Italians during the war, defeating them on land during the Battle of Custoza (24 June) and on sea during the Battle of Lissa (20 July). Giuseppe Garibaldi's Hunters of the Alps had some success against the Austrians at the Battle of Bezzecca (21 July), but the Italian government ordered Garibaldi to withdraw when Prussia and Austria concluded an armistice. With the Peace of Prague (23 August), Austria agreed to Venetia's incorporation into the Kingdom of Italy. The same point was repeated in the Treaty of Vienna (12 October), achieved with the mediation of France.
Austria first ceded the Venetian territory to France (under a treaty signed by General Karl Moering, on behalf of Franz Joseph I of Austria, and General Edmond Le Bœuf, on behalf of Napoleon III) as a compensation for French neutrality during the war. According to the treaty, France ceded Venetia to Italy "under the reservation of the consent of the people duly consulted". Whether an option other than becoming Italian was available is unclear, nor was the treaty precise on how to consult the people. Venetia was already under Italian control after the French government renounced it on 19 October.La Gazzetta di Venezia, 20 October 1866
This increases doubt about the real importance of the plebiscite, and leading historians suggest that the referendum in Venetia was held under military pressure,Genova Giovanni Thaon di Revel, La cessione del Veneto. Ricordi di un commissario piemontese incaricato alle trattative, Lumachi, Florence 1906 as a mere 0.01% of voters (69 out of more than 642,000 ballots) voted against annexation and a mere 0.1% (567 ballots) were null, and that it was ultimately rigged.Gabriele Riondato, Storia del Veneto , 2000 Some historians, who investigated into the historical archive of the Austrian foreign ministry, also suggest that the referendum was a mere administrative affair to Italy, just to formalise the sovereignty on a territory already under its possession, and that the local population had no real choice.Jaromir Beran Plebiscit in razmejitev v Benečiji (1866 e 1867) (Il plebiscito e la definizione dei confini nel Veneto, 1866 e 1867 – The plebiscite and the definitions of the borders of Venetia, 1866 and 1867), 1979 The plebiscite could have been a mere demonstrationSrečko Vilhar Jadranski koledar (Calendario adriatico – Adriatic calendar), 1966, p. 86 to gain legitimacy after Italy's bad conduct during the so-called Third War of Independence.
The Kingdom of Italy adopted Italian as the official language. Venetians, like several other regional communities, largely rejected that and continued to use the Venetian language. Linguistic nationalism became part of Venetian culture, and during the last decades of the 19th century, some revolts against southern Italian bureaucrats occurred. After its incorporation into Italy, Venetia was so poor that millions of Venetians had to emigrate to the Americas, especially Brazil and Argentina (three million left their homeland from 1870 and 1910), without losing their heritage, so even today, many Venetian descendants in Latin America, most notably in two Brazilian southern states, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, speak Venetian as their mother tongue.
World Wars and the Italian Republic Right after World War I, the economic and political situation in Veneto was critical, so that a former Prime Minister and native of Venice, Luigi Luzzatti, wrote to Prime Minister Vittorio Emanuele Orlando and told him there could be a "Venetian Ireland", in parallel to the simultaneous Irish War of Independence, while the prefect of Treviso signalled the risk that a separatist movement aimed at separating Veneto from Italy might flourish in the province of Treviso.
Precursors of the present-day Venetist movement date back to before World War II and were both left- and right-wing. In 1920 La Riscossa, a Venetian newspaper close to the Socialists and the Republicans, espoused the need for a "united elective governorate with autonomous and competent technical and administrative organs" as an alternative to the "central political rule"Corriere del Veneto, 20 December 2009, p. 21 Guido Bergamo, a Republican member of the Chamber of Deputies elected in Veneto, wrote that "the Venetian problem is so acute that from today on we will preach the rebellion of Venetians. Citizens, let's not pay taxes, not recognise the central government in Rome, chase away prefects, retain the money from direct taxes in Veneto".Francesco Jori, Dalla Łiga alla Lega. Storia, movimenti, protagonisti, Marsilio, Venice 2009, p. 41 Shortly after Italico Corradino Cappellotto, a member of the Chamber of Deputies for the Italian People's Party, launched the first Venetist party forth of the 1921 general election: the Lion of Saint Mark won 6.1% of the votes in the province of Treviso.Francesco Jori, Dalla Łiga alla Lega. Storia, movimenti, protagonisti, Marsilio, Venice 2009, pp. 35, 41Ezio Toffano, Short History of the Venetian Autonomism , Raixe Venete